Welcome back to Savannah Flavors, our weekly newsletter bringing you the latest delicious details from Savannah’s culinary scene every Thursday.

Here is what’s on the menu today:

• Sweet concoctions happening at Stevedore Bakery 🍪

• Green salsa so good you could drink 🌶

• Forget Wonder Bread, make this sandwich bread at home

• Been There. Ate That. Bluffton Edition. 🌅

THE MAIN DISH

Amy Hosking takes over baking operations at Thompson Savannah 👩🏻‍🍳 🥐 🍰

When I was fourteen, I was cutting neighbors’ lawns in Penfield Gardens, still a year away from working for our town’s rec department and two removed from my first foray in food service, day-managing an Abbott’s Frozen Custard franchise. 

For the past forty years, I have been happiest in my yard or in my kitchen, though neither of those teen work experiences translated vocationally over the long run. Suffice to say, not many of us zeroed in on our chosen careers while in our teens. 

Whether or not she knew it at the time, what Amy Hosking began plying when she was barely out of middle school became her beloved life’s work.

“My introduction into pastry was a little bit of a shock,” she said. 

Her “whole world was surrounded by savory and culinary” when she ran into Jane Axamethy, who had “this little bakery” and asked Hosking if she was interested in working for her. 

“That really opened my eyes,” Hosking said of those origin-story years at The Bake House in  her hometown of Kauneonga, New York.

Seventeen years later, as Thompson Savannah’s pastry sous chef, she now oversees the boutique property’s entire baking operations.

CHEF’S CRAVINGS

Lulu’s Chocolate Bar - Janine Finn, Rebecca Radovich, & Amy Antontelli 🥟🍸🍋

Each week, I ask the folks behind the phenomenal food at our favorite places around Savannah these same simple questions:

When you are not in your restaurant kitchen, where do you go out to eat and what do you order?

This week’s Chefs’ Cravings come from the sweetest trio in town, Lulu’s Chocolate Bar founders and co-owners Janine Finn and Rebecca Radovich and their kitchen manager for the last decade Amy Antonelli. 

RR: Amy and I miss…

AA: Taqueria El San Luis.

RR: It was right in our plaza, so we would head down there all the time and grab lunch. We loved the tortas or, if we were in a hurry, the tacos.

AA: The burritos if you’re hungry, for sure.

RR: If you want leftovers.

AA: The Al Pastor.

RR: And that green salsa.

AA: Yes! The mild green salsa, it’s so good.

RR: I could drink it.

JF: Rebecca and I have recently been very upset that Madame Butterfly has stopped serving their brunch on Mondays and Tuesdays because Monday was the day we would go down to get bibimbap.

RR: Every Monday.

JF: The most amazing comfort food, and the staff there is super-nice, too. We’re always downtown Monday and always go out to lunch, so we’re like, ‘What do we do now?’”

RR: We’re lost. More of Ele’s restaurants have taken its place. Coco & Moss and Chive is our go-to in the warmer months because we love their salads for lunch. Their salmon salad is the best salad in the world.

AA: I go to Himalayan Curry Kitchen in Richmond Hill. They have a lunch buffet every day. It’s amazing. The tikka masala, the naan.

RR: As you can tell, we’re lunch people. 

AA: Yeah, we love lunch. We don’t go out late. Once we leave here, we go home.

JF: For dinner, I’ve always loved going to Circa. The trout. They stopped making the celery root mash, which I loved to dip my trout in, but their roasted carrots taste like candy. It’s a good side anyway, so I can’t complain.

RR: Yes, we love Circa. The burger’s really good, too. And a new favorite is The Steakhouse (on Whitemarsh Island) in our plaza right here. It’s the best steak. You get a salad, two sides, and a steak, and it’s super-reasonable. It really is one of the best steaks around.

And for a special occasion?

AA: Persepolis downtown. I like that place. I always get their trio with the spanakopita, the pastitsio, and the dolmeh, and their rice is delicious.

RR: Cotton & Rye, usually. The chicken thighs are my husband’s favorite, and I would usually get any kind of fish special. And I love their cocktails.

JF: I have a weird thing for the chile rellenos at Tequila’s Town. I love those things, and that’s usually where I want to go and what I want to have with the Dos Amores margarita which adds sangria to the margarita to take a little of the edge of it. I’m a cheap date, I guess.

-Neil Gabbey

TRIED, TASTED, TRUE

Rye sandwich loaf 🥓🥬🍅 

THE STORY BEHIND THE RECIPE

I have never been Rye Bread’s biggest fan. Unless it was bookending a proper Reuben or baked into little for-the-table buns at a really great restaurant, rye was not for this guy.

My conversion to this grain can be directly traced to the Powerhouse sandwich at Uncle June’s, which is served on Natasha Gaskill’s peerless Pullman rye. My wife and I have already split the sandwich three times since Reid Henninger opened his container deli in Starland Yard, and as is the case with so many superb sandwiches, the bread makes its insides even better.

It took me roughly a decade to perfect, if I may, my own white sandwich bread recipe, one that I am saving for a future Triple T. Though I know that changing a yeasted dough’s ingredients can dramatically alter its structure, crumb, and taste, I figured that my base recipe would work as a starting point for a rye rendition.

The world wide web internet yielded a few possible references to consider and to integrate, the best of which comes from Alexandra Stafford (alexandracooks.com). In ingredients and by amounts, her recipe resembles my white loaf’s roster, so this rye was not an exercise in starting from scratch.

Stafford’s recipe calls for 384 grams of either bread or all-purpose flour and 96 grams rye flour. Even though those metric weights correspond to cup measurements, rounded numbers are always better in baking, and I had a mad idea that whole wheat bread flour would provide both stability and sweetness to an even more nutritional loaf.

Finding rye flour in a store was not a simple task. Thankfully, Whole Foods stocks Anson Mills Organic ($5.79 for 20 ounces).

All told, the Alexandra’s Kitchen recipe amounts to 480 grams of flour, so I increased the rye to an even 100 grams to which I added 100 grams of whole wheat bread flour and 250 grams of all-purpose flour. My math is only off for the moment. Hang tight. Another thirty-plus grams of APF will be added eventually.

Because I use Saf-instant, I skip the blooming step and whisk the yeast into the flour before I add the wet ingredients 🥣 

Speaking of my other main modification is to split the difference with a slightly lesser volume of liquid, using 190 grams of both whole milk and water, warmed slightly in the microwave. In a separate small bowl, warm up the two tablespoons of honey in one tablespoon of canola oil and then whisk that pair into the warm milk-water. 

Add the wets to the drys and mix with dough hooks until a ball comes together. This is a tacky mass, so do not worry if it seems a little loose. Every so often, scrape down the sides and the bottom, dusting with a little more APF as you go. Once the flour is mostly incorporated, sprinkle the caraway seeds over the dough and continue to mix until they are evenly distributed.

Loyal Triple T readers know that I never add salt to a yeasted dough until it has rested (covered) for at least a half hour. At that point, dust the dough with a spoonful of flour, maybe 15 grams, and scrape the sides and bottom again to loosen the sticky mass from the bowl. Electric mix in the salt, and cover for at least two hours.

Both times I have baked this rye sandwich loaf, I have used a CHEFMADE Pullman loaf pan whose one-pound capacity works perfectly, though a standard 9” x 5” loaf pan will suffice. 

When the dough ball has doubled, use just a touch more flour to scrape it out of the bowl and onto a clean countertop. Do two envelope folds and plop the blob into the prepared loaf pan, pressing down to flatten it out. Cover with a tea towel and let proof for at least another hour.

My sandwich loaves’ baking temp and time are easy to remember: thirty-five minutes at 350° ⏲

What makes this rye bread unique is that no one flavor dominates. It has just enough rye flour and caraway seeds to be legitimate, but the whole wheat and honey subtly sweeten the sturdy crumb.

To go with this particular loaf, I cured and smoked a side of salmon and whipped some chèvre for tartines. 

If you are like the former me and never liked rye bread, try this one.

-Neil Gabbey

THE RECIPE

HARD GOODS 

• 250 g. APF

• 100 g. whole wheat bread flour 🍞 

• 100 g. rye flour

• 2 t. instant yeast (Saf Red)

• 2 t. kosher salt 🧂

• 1 T. caraway seeds

WET GOODS

• 190 g. whole milk 🥛

• 190 g. water

• 1 T. butter

• 2 T. honey 🐝 

• 1 T. canola oil

DO THIS

1. Into a large mixing bowl, measure out all three flours, add the yeast, and gently whisk to combine.

2. Measure out the milk and the water into a large, spouted measuring cup and warm in a low microwave.

3. In a small bowl, warm the butter, honey, and oil in a low microwave or over low heat on the stove 🧈 

4. Whisk the butter-honey-oil into the milk-water.

5. Pour all the wet ingredients into the flour-yeast bowl.

6. Using dough hooks on a hand mixer, mix for five minutes, occasionally scraping down the bowl’s sides, sprinkling with a little flour, if necessary.

7. Once the dough has combined, though still tacky, cover the bowl with a large plate and let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

8. Add the 2 t. salt and mix for another five minutes, again sprinkling with a little flour, if necessary.

9. Lightly flour the dough’s top and sides 

10. Cover the bowl with a large plate and let the dough rest at room temperature for at least 2 hours ⏰ 

11. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

12. Stretch it gently and make two envelope folds.

13. Prepare a 1-pound Pullman loaf pan or a 9” x 5” loaf pan with canola spray.

14. Press the dough down into the pan, flattening it out.

15. Cover the pan with a tea towel and let the dough rest for at least another hour.

16. Preheat the oven to 350°.

17. Bake for 35 minutes.

18. Let the bread rest for 10 minutes and remove it from the pan.

19. Cover the loaf with a tea towel and serve any time after an hour.

BEEN THERE. ATE THAT.

FARM - Bluffton, SC 🌺🔥🥥

Shame. On. Me.

Though FARM began wowing Coastal Empire diners with its locally sourced, seasonally inspired, creative cuisine back in 2016, we had never been. A few times a year, my wife and I have made the quick drive up US17 to SC315 to SC46 to stroll the sleepy streets of Old Town Bluffton, but never had we timed a day trip to include any food at FARM, ostensibly saving it for a special occasion. I suppose my 53rd birthday sufficed.

Again, this might be the greatest comestible mea culpa a food columnist could ever cop to.

If you do not care to read the remainder of this article, know this: our brunch that Sunday morning was the best meal we have eaten in our nine years living and eating in and around Savannah.

Fork drop.

What chef-owner Brandon Carter created with his wife, Brandi, and his partners, Alan and Karen Sheriff and Ryan and Joanne Williamson, is that special, and the fare prepared by FARM Hospitality Group’s culinary director Opie Crooks and his kitchen crew is Michelin-star-worthy.

We strategically beat the church crowd and were seated just after ten o’clock. The morning was beyond beautiful in Bluffton, not a cloud in a robin’s egg blue sky, the steady but slow and silent stream of traffic easing down May River Road. With a warm welcome, Tierney handed us Menu Edition 734, featuring the à la carte Brunch & Two: pick one main and two sides. 

Loyal readers are well aware of my (ahem) food frugality, so before I extol the eats, I have to praise the prices. This meal is a steal, better than reasonable, cheap even, considering the providence and quality of the cuisine. 

After making the tough choices, Tierney smiled and said, “Good orders.”

My wife chose the cornmeal pancakes ($18) with sides of crispy bacon and the beet salad. The pancakes, though properly dense and hefty, were lightened by their co-stars, the house-made strawberry sidekicks and whip [sic] cream standing in for syrup without making the cakes one bit soggy.

‘Crispy’ did not do the delicious rashers justice, tinted with cane syrup and sherry vinegar. The bright beets were tender but could have been fewer in number with more of the dish’s enhancements, especially the ricotta. 

Planning that this would be my only meal of the day, I went big with the flank steak and fried egg ($22), accompanied by the hashbrown and Brussels salad. The salad was a standout perhaps because punctuated bites of its acidic verdancy balanced the savory fats and sweets scattered around our table. Inside the tender hashed potatoes, the garlic, rosemary, and cheddar played subtle parts as the shallot cream under-spread was sublime.

Last but far from least, the flank steak. Oh, the flank steak. Easily the best single steak I have had in years, it was initially a bit rare for my liking, but that just made its succulent miso-glazed sweetness all the better, accented with a kicky swirl of jade green jalapeño salsa. 

As we picked our way from plate to plate, my wife said, “So fun!” and did her little happy food dance.

As birthday treats, Chef Opie and the FARM folks gifted us two additional sides, the sausage dumpling and the strawberry coffee cake. The first was an extraordinary take on the familiar with the sausage gravy hidden inside a flat-top-seared pastry, the dish my wife declaimed as her favorite, followed closely by the coffee cake. I am not a strawberry fan, but the fruit flavor was so understated that the airiness of the crumb and the cinnamon graham cracker crumble made me vie for the last bits.

Seinfeld’s “The Airport” (S04E12) contains a now-memed line, Jerry’s gleefully reply after the first class flight attendant politely asks, “More anything?” 

“More everything!”

Although neither of us could have eaten another bite that morning at FARM, and I made good on my prediction not to eat again that day, we will be back soon and often for more everything.

-Neil Gabbey